49 Films Will Premiere At Miami International Film Festival, A Program Of Miami Dade College’s Mdculture

Miami, February 26, 2014 -
For its 31st edition opening next week (March 7 – 16, 2014), Miami International Film Festival (MIFF),a program of Miami Dade College’s MDCulture, will showcase 49 films making their World, International, North American, and U.S. Premieres.

From this year’s lineup, MIFF will screen seven feature films and 17 short films making their World Premieres.

In addition, three films will make their International Premieres, 12 films will make their North American Premieres, and six films will be screening for the first time in the U.S. There will also be three North American premiering short films and one U.S. premiering short film.

“Festival patrons have the opportunity to be the first in the world to view some of these highly anticipated films,” said MIFF Executive Director Jaie Laplante. “The exclusive occasions that MIFF is offering make this year’s Festival not one to miss.”

7 World Premiere Features

· Asteroid (Asteroide) (Mexico, directed by Marcelo Tobar)

After seven years Cristina returns to her childhood home—left to her older brother, Mauricio, by their deceased parents. The siblings, now dysfunctional adults, struggle to find their footing and someone they can each count on.

· Default (USA / Colombia, directed by Simon Brand)

Somali pirates led by Atlas (David Oyelowo), hijack a plane chartered by an American news crew in a tension-packed thriller centered around a deadly battle of wits.

· Ectotherms (USA, directed by Monica Peña)

An impression of Miami as it is lived, not imagined: a sultry city where family heritage, urban plight, and a unique landscape intersect to create a youth culture like no other in the world.

· Kid Cannabis (USA, directed by John Stockwell)

True story of two Idaho border-dwellers who built a multimillion-dollar business by illegally running marijuana (that was legally purchased a few miles away in Canada) into the US, in this cross between Stand by Me and Scarface.

· Mateo (Colombia / France, directed by Maria Gamboa)

At the impressionable age of 16, young Mateo faces a dilemma about the direction his life will take when his corrupt uncle asks him to infiltrate a local Barrancabermeja theatre group to uncover its members’ political activities.

3 International Premiere Features

· City of God: 10 Years Later (Cidade de deus: 10 anos depois) (Brazil, directed by Luciano Vidigal and Cavi Borges)

Ten years after the release of the Oscar-nominated City of God, this new documentary explores the positive and negative impact the 2002 film has had on the lives of those in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood.

Zeki, an ex-con who can barely spell, becomes a substitute teacher at Goethe High in order to drill a tunnel below the new gym built on the exact spot where stripper friend Charlie buried his loot.

A family-run textile machine company in a small southern German town is in trouble, and the heir to the business is forced to negotiate with Chinese entrepreneurs behind his caustic 90-year old father’s back, in this intelligent comedy.

12 North American Premiere Features

· The Art Rush(France, directed by Marianne Lamour)

As the contemporary art market is dominated by speculative billionaire collectors, long-view professionals such as Don & Mera Rubell hold steady to a sense of artistic merit.

Notorious womanizer and 19th century violin virtuoso at the peak of his career, Niccolò Paganini (David Garrett) is lured to London by his business- savvy agent.

· Elsa & Fred (USA, directed by Michael Radford)

Elsa (Shirley MacLaine), a vivacious retiree in New Orleans gets straight-laced widower, Fred (Christopher Plummer), as an unwanted next-door neighbor—until he ultimately surrenders to her bold and beautiful madness—and the two soon discover it’s never too late to fulfill a lifetime fantasy, in this rousing re-make of hit Spanish-Argentine film by Il Postino director, Michael Radford. Also stars Marcia Gay Harden, George Segal, Chris Noth.

Five friends go on a cave-exploring Mediterranean holiday but get lost in a myriad of passageways, resulting in a diabolic quest for survival.

In a rhapsody of toughened bodies and torn emotions, a group of teenagers seeking refuge from hardship perform in an experimental fusion of film and dance that stretches the boundaries of visual kinetics.

Both Juvenal and Margo live in a state of isolation, despite residing in a bustling urban center. Each manages to find comfort in peculiar ways, in this adaption of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, updated to contemporary Belo Horizonte.

Twelve-year-old Lila enlists her boarding school teacher as a companion on an emotional journey to track down the biological father she has never known.

· Séptimo(Spain / Argentina, directed by Patxi Amexcua)

Tense kidnapping thriller exposing Buenos Aires’ criminal underbelly. Ricardo Darín and Belen Rueda masterfully portray divorcing couple Sebastian and Delia, as their children disappear on the most important day of Sebastian’s legal career.

Two celebrated Spanish singer/songwriters—generational icon Joan Manuel Serrat, exiled in Mexico under Franco’s dictatorship, and Joaquín Sabina, whose poetry and rebelliousness seduced audiences by the thousands—embark on a final tour together.

A fresh, hilarious comedy from the director of Ghost Graduation (MIFF 2013). Three ex-boyfriends invite Ruth (Inma Cuesta) to their weddings, all in one month; the only person Ruth can convince to be her date is the sexy new intern.

· We All Want What’s Best For Her (Tots volem el millor per a ella) (Spain, directed by Mar Coll)

A car crash leaves Geni (Nora Navas, Black Bread) disillusioned with her domestic and professional world in Catalonia, causing her to re-think everything she thought she wanted from life.

Two middle-aged family men, hit hard by Spain’s economic crisis, stumble upon a hefty stash of cocaine while out fishing, but are conflicted and clueless on how to get rid of the haul in this Galician black comedy.

· I’ll Follow You Down (Canada, directed by Richie Mehta)

Erol (Haley Joel Osment, now 25) struggles to keep his mother (Gillian Anderson) on an even keel after his father vanishes into thin air.

· Stockholm (Estocolmo) (Spain, directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen)

A hot-blooded Spaniard wanders the romantic late-night streets of Madrid to woo a pretty yet reluctant girl into his bed. But love’s morning-after hangover transforms the situation into something an entirely different.

1 U.S Premiere Short Film

· “A Big Deal (特殊交易)” (China, directed by Yoyo Yao)

A 10-year-old boy, lonely for his mother who is always working, hires a prostitute to fill in for her when she can’t come to Parent Day at school.

Premiering films will be shown at Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, Paragon Grove, O Cinema, Regal South Beach Cinemas and Coral Gables Art Cinema. The 31st edition of Miami International Film Festival runs March 7-16, 2014. For tickets and more information, please visit www.miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-FILM(3456).

# # #

Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), celebrating its 31st anniversary March 7 - 16, 2014, is considered the preeminent film festival for showcasing Ibero-American cinema in the U.S., and a major launch pad for all international and documentary cinema. The annual Festival, produced and presented by Miami Dade College, attracts more than 60,000 audience members and more than 400 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry professionals. It is the only major festival housed within a college or university. In the last five years, the Festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 World, International, North American, U.S. and East Coast Premieres. MIFF's special focus on Ibero-American cinema has made the Festival a natural gateway for the discovery of new talent from this diverse territory. The Festival also offers unparalleled educational opportunities to film students and the community at large. Major sponsors of the 2014 Festival include Knight Foundation, Lexus and Miami-Dade County. For more, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-MIFF (3456).

MDCulture is the Cultural Affairs Department of Miami Dade College (MDC). Comprising the Miami Book Fair International, Miami International Film Festival, Tower Theater, the Center for Literature and Theatre, Koubek Center, Freedom Tower, MDC Live Arts and MDC Galleries and Museum of Art + Design, MDCulture is committed to providing everyone the opportunity to come in contact with innovative thinkers, creators and tradition bearers from around the world. With each presentation, MDCulture offers a bridge between cultures and ideas, creating new opportunities for the increasingly diverse population of Miami to come together through shared live arts experiences.

Miami Dade College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate and baccalaureate degrees.
Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Miami Dade College.
Miami Dade College is an equal access/equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, marital status, age, religion, national origin,
disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, or genetic information. Contact the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs/ADA Coordinator, at 305.237.2577 for information.